Sunday, March 29, 2009

In all truth, the game was meaningless. The top two teams from Pool A - TEO Vilnius and SK Cēsis - along with the top two teams from Pool B (Arvi and TTT Rīga) were guaranteed places in the Final Four regardless of the outcome of this game. However, there was a matter of pride - the year before TEO Vilnius met SK Cēsis in the BWBL championshipo, and lost. Unfortunately, the outcome was the same as the Lithuanians won 71-50.

These four teams will meet April 18-19th in a single-elimination semi-finals tournament. On the 18th, TEO Vilnius will play TTT Rīga to determine the first finalist, and Arvi will play SK Cēsis to determine the other finalist. On the 19th, the final standings will be determined - the winners of the day before fight for first place vs. second place, and the losers fight for third vs. fourth.

The box score is here. Click "View match statistics" to see the boxscore.

It was a painful game for SK Cēsis, which started slow and stayed slow. They were down 23-19 in the first quarter and lumbered to halftime down 41-23. SK Cēsis put up a slight struggle in the third quarter to close to within 13, with the score 53-40 at the end of thirty minutes. However, TEO Vilnius would hold SK Cēsis to just 10 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

TEO Vilnius hit 48 percent of their attempted field goals compared with 34 percent from SK Cēsis. TEO Vilnius out-rebounded SK Cēsis 41-28, and when you lead in both shooting and rebounding, that pretty much determines the game.